A Team Building Exercise!

It was around noon when the message went out, a few academy students turned messenger would be sent out with a note that would simply read 'Meet me at the training grounds at noon!'. It would be difficult for the three genin to figure out who 'me' was, they had immaculate hand-writing. The first thing that would come to mind would probably be they were finally meeting their Jounin Sensei. A possibly exciting time! There were a great many talented shinobi that could be continuing training from the Academy, legendary ninja known for daring exploits and skill!

Unfortunately, they might be a little disappointed when they came across who it was that sent them that note. A young woman who had apparently fallen asleep waiting for her students... Sayuri Uzumaki, one of the newest Jounin among the ranks. Regardless, there she was wearing her particularly short but long sleeved kimono, fast asleep in possibly the least graceful way possible, practically sprawled out in the grass in the shade of a sturdy tree. Even as they approached, she wouldn't stir from her midday nap, surprisingly unsuspecting for an apparently highly skilled shinobi. Maybe this was the reason the Uzumaki was known as a bit of a slacker... One of them would probably need to rouse her from her slumber if they planned on getting their training today.

Hana would be asleep around noon of course. She never actually seemed to get up any earlier, because she never had any reason to leaving her bored if she did. However, something was strange about this morning for Hana could hear a knocking at her door even if it was very faint. The Uzumaki would sit up while rubbing her eyes as she listened for the sound again just to be sure it wasn't her own hearing. After a moment, Hana would hear it again leaving her confused as she wiggled her way over tp the corner of her bed before rolling off. However, Hana would find herself rolling off only to hit the back of her head off the floor, "Ouch! Ow ow ow.." the girl would sit up holding her head as she would hear her door click open. "Excuse me? Is everything alright? I heard a noise... I just came to look for Hana Uzumaki," a small voice would say before Hana would sigh relieved. The young Uzumaki would get up off the floor before wandering to the door with her fiery, red hair a mess and her clothing wrinkled. "Yeah. I'm fine. Sorry about that. I'm Hana Uzumaki. What do you need?" The small girl would giggle before pulling out a written message, "Here ya go. Better get ready, sleepy head." The small girl would run out and down the stairs without even a look back. The girl would smile before closing her door, then open the piece of paper quickly. Brown eyes would widen nervously, "NOON?!"

The Uzumaki had readied herself quicker than she had ever done so in her entire life on the planet. Her hair was up, her shorts were on, her top was a long sleeve, and her sandals were on her feet. After going through her checklist, Hana would exit her home and spring into action. Her small feet dashed along the ground as her small person dodged kids, animals, and rocks that could trip her up. Eventually, Hana would make it to the training grounds, where she would immediately slow to a walk leavibg her demeanor now rather shy and hesitant, until she saw a red haired woman lying along the grass. Hana would smile before sitting upin the grass right next to the woman awaiting the others. She wasn't sure when they would show, but she would let Sayuri sleep until then. Hana would pull out a kunai throwing it into the ground in feont of her, pulling it out, and repeating.

Zakul was in the middle of running laps around the training grounds when the young academy student stopped him to hand the gray-haired genin a message. Zakul recognized the blonde boy from earlier, he had seen the young man talking with woman in an immaculate kimono with long red hair. Looking over the message quickly he Zakul couldn't help but smile, the day he was waiting for had arrived, finally he had a team, and can finally go on missions and such. Running over to where he last remember seeing her he would scan the grounds finding Sayuri laying under one of the sturdy oaks that he loved to use for striking practice, the scars in the bark from his legs quite noticeable as he approached.

It wasn't until he was a few feet away that he realized that someone had beat him there, another red-headed kunoichi, though this one appeared to be a bit closer to Zakul's own age, in fact he vaguely remembers seeing her in class before graduating. Not that she would be hard to remember with hair as vibrant as hers. Once he was a few feet away from his sleeping instructor, and timid teammate he would bow deeply and introduce himself, before sitting cross legged right there in the sun, "Good Afternoon, Ryuken Zakul at your service."

[ketsu]

Kuroi En'ō

Finding the third Genin was incredibly easy to anyone who paid the slightest bit of attention, since she would be at the Academy's library at this time of day. Placing the book back, as she had just finished reading it, an Academy Student tugged on her coat and held the letter up nervously. Figures, even the new students know. As her body went through the motions of opening the note and reading it, her brain processed it along with flashes of leaving the village solely for the peace and comfort of people not accusing her every action as cursed.

Yes, Black. We should leave, and burn down the entire village while we're at it! These pesky little shits, they don't deserve to live! We could do it so easily, even as Genin... they wouldn't be able to stop both of us!
You. They wouldn't be able to stop you, Red. They'd stop me by the time I used the second Jutsu, and sealing me along with you would take only a few minutes of tactical decision-making. We'd never make it out of the village... now be quiet, I need to go see who I'm supposed to be meeting.

Opening her eyes again, as she had finished speaking with Him, the Genin stepped out of the library and towards the Training Grounds, watching the Academy Students do their training while a few stopped and looked at her, realized who she was, and immediately got scared and nervous. One of the Sensei, seeing this, slapped on student in the back of the head for being rude and bowed to her, causing a light smile. The elder Shinobi knew she was no risk, it was the younger ones and the Civilians who constantly harassed her.

As her foot touched down on the Training Grounds, a light breeze blew her coat back and caused her to shield her eyes with her right hand, her left grabbing onto the sword at her waist instinctively. A quick scan over the fields revealed two other Genin she recognized from the Academy as Ryuken Zakul and Uzumaki Hana, one of whom she'd had a mildly unpleasant encounter with in this exact spot a few days ago, but both were waiting by a Kunoichi who was sleeping under the tree. As she approached, her eyes scanning over the elder Kunoichi, the Genin realized she must be Uzumaki Sayuri, one of the newest Jōnin and therefore without a team. So that was the purpose of this meeting.

Bowing lightly to the two Ninja who were clearly awake, she spoke.

"En'ō Kuroi." As she stood directly in front of the other Kunoichi, sighing lightly, she bent over and flicked her supposed "team leader" in the forehead. "Wake up, Sensei."
[/ketsu]

The sleeping jounin was apparently lost to the world, even as her first two students would appear and just let her continue napping as they introduced themselves. A heavy sleeper indeed, it wasn't until she was suddenly flicked on the forehead would she wake. Though she reacted out of instinct, with one hand coming up to grab the girl's wrist as the other passed over a seal on the opposite arm, a kunai appearing in her hand from within as the unfortunate genin would be staring directly into those icy blue eyes with full intent of putting her training to use. Well, that was until she snapped out of threat mode with a few surprised blinks. "Oh uh... Sorry!" She would spin the kunai on a finger, sealing it away as she released her grip. "You shouldn't startle me like that!" The young woman would quickly get to her feet, brushing herself off from her nap. "I can't believe it's noon already, I thought I'd have more time"

Sayuri would stretch out and yawn "Right! Well, now you're here, we can get started!" The kunoichi seemed excited, she had been waiting quite a while to be granted her own team and now they were finally here! Seeing as she missed the introductions, it seemed to her like a good place to start "My name is Sayuri Uzumaki, I will be your new sensei. I specialize in fuinjutsu, and I'd say one of our leading experts in the field! Enough about me though, I wanna hear about you guys. So lets hear it, name, focus and your goals! Hana-Chan, why don't you go first" The older redhead would beam over to the younger one, hoping to inspire just a little bit of confidence in the girl. She knew that little Hana could use the boost.

Next to arrive would be a boy, who would immediately seem to want to make himself known to Hana, however she would quickly turn bright red. Brown eyes would freeze on his person, even if he did seem quite cheery at first, she wasn't sure what kind od personality he truley had. He could be ruthless. He could be sweet. He could be mean. He could be nice. She wasn't quite sure how to deal with speaking to him, nonetheless she wouldn't have to for the third member of their party would finally show. The girl would immediately introduce herself before flicling Sayuri on the forehead and if she was anything like Hana, that was a terrible idea.

The jounin had instantly woken into a sort of defensive fighting mode prompting Hana to nod, 'Yep, just like me,' the girl would think to herself. The woman's mind would adkust to her situation before she would remove her kunai from the surrounding area. Immediateky, she would pretend as though nothing happened leaving the young Uzumaki rather confused and even more so when Sayuri wanted to start intorductions with her. Hana's face would grow as red as her hair as her eyes glanced to Zakul. Then, she would begin to speak, "U-Uhm.. well," her voice would begin almost barely audible peompting her to stop. Her body would freeze as she took deep breaths. The small girl would stand and face away from the group as she pretended she were simply speaking to herself, "I-I.. I am.. Uzumaki Hana. I can't really do much besides some Medical Ninjutsu.. B-But.. I.. want to be... the best healer ever." The girl's heart would sink as she spoke her words. She honestly didn't know what she wanted, but she was sure that by the way she felt, that certainly wasn't her goal. She wanted something more. Something greater for herself, but what?

Zakul remained seated as the fourth and final member of their team had shown, a young girl that he recognized almost instantly from his encounter, almost in this exact spot just a few days prior. Smiling at her as she walked past him, he nodded his acknowledgement of her introduction and chuckled as she flicked the oldest member of their little hodgepodge crew right inf the forehead causing the jounin to jolt awake, pulling a Kunai out of thin air and make a move like she was going to skewer Kuroi. Finally realizing where she was, and what was going on the jounin released her grip of Kuroi and poofed her kunai out of existence as quickly as she drew it.

Standing up and brushing herself off, She would introduce herself as Sayuri Uzumaki, The name rang a bell, though Zakul couldn't think for the life of him why. He took note of her proclaimed affinity for fuinjutsu, the art of sealing.Then she passed the torch to Hana, who happened to have been the timid little redhead next to her. Hana froze almost instantly, kind of like a deer in a spotlight, until she stood up and looked away from the group. Though even then she seemed to stumble over her words as she introduced herself, though she claimed to be a medic, well at least in training. Well that is pretty good composition then, We have me on Taijutsu for close-range assaults, Kuroi has her ninjutsu giving her good mid-long range support status. And if Hana can use healing techniques then we have a doctor, I don't think I could have asked for better teammates.

Once Hana had finished introducing herself Zakul would signal for Kuroi to go next, waiting patiently for introduction to finish before taking his turn. Standing up he would brush the dirt off of his pants before bowing to the three of them once more before speaking, the smile on his face infected his words with his normal cheerful demeanor, "My name is Ryuken Zakul, though you can just call me Zakul. I specialize in taijutsu, more specifically Goken, the strong fist style. It is a pleasure to meet all of you."

Sayuri chuckled as the younger Uzumaki would practically squeak out her goals, she would reach out and tousle the young girl's pretty red hair "You'll be the best medic ever! We're lucky to have someone like you on the team Hana" the jounin would nod. She had been quite lucky with her team's composition really, having done a bit of research on them before the meeting and at least on paper their skills would really compliment each other. Well at least if they all got along, but so far that didn't seem to be much of an issue. Though after Hana had her time to speak it would move onto the only boy in the group, which could be considered lucky or unlucky really.

He seemed to have forgotten the 'goal' part of his introduction, but Sayuri seemed to be letting that slide for the most part. He seemed reasonably straightforward, which made sense considering he had chosen to master the Goken style of fighting. A good fit for a front-line assault though not something that Sayuri had studied much herself, maybe something she would need to work on if she wanted to help the boy develop. "Well Zakul, it'll be good to have some muscle on the team too! I really lucked out with you guys, huh?" She nods, not exactly having too much to say otherwise as the final student would open with a bow to introduce herself.

A jinchuuriki was always going to be a difficult student, most jounin wouldn't exactly relish the challenge. But most jounin weren't Sayuri Uzumaki. Being such a talented practitioner of fuinjutsu, as well as a member of the Uzumaki clan, Sayuri was uniquely suited for the task. Which was probably one of the reasons why Kuroi had been put in her team in the first place "Well make sure you keep that destruction under control" Sayuri would smile sweetly as she would lock eyes once more with Kuroi, as if she was trying to communicate directly with the tailed beast sealed within her, the look turning just a little darker as she spoke her next sentence. "Or else I'll have to, and Red probably won't enjoy that" The Bijuu might know of the Uzumaki clan's particular brand of fuinjutsu, particularly those adamantine chains that a number of them possessed.

Though she lost the 'serious' routine in an instant as she clapped her hands together. "Alrighty! Follow me" She would order, before walking away into the training grounds, where she would stop suddenly. There seemed to be a lounging chair set up there, and something of a feast beside it. She turned about and revealed a trio of bells "I bet you've heard of this one before right? Well, if you haven't, it's a bell test. You three have to get these from me, or it's right back to the academy! Okay, test starts..." She would pause before falling back into the lounging chair "Now". It was possibly a trap, but the jounin didn't even attempt to run as she lay back. Plucking a grape from the spread of food beside her to pop it in her mouth. The little bells tied to her waist jingling lightly with every move.

Hana wasnt quite sure about this boy, but he didn't seem the least bit put off by her. He hadn't mentioned her hair, he hasn't posted out her flaws, and he certainly hadn't attempted to pick at her feelings in the slightest. No etheless, she was still worried that he would eventually turn on her and be just like all the other kids, so she would still guard herself against him. Boys could be so cruel afterall. Then, he would tell the group what exactly it was that he specialized in causing her to become flustered only moving closer to their sensei. Strongest fighting style? There's no way Hana could compete against that! If he were to ever come at her in any way, she would be a goner. Hana was small, weak, and couldn't really combat much at all. She also wasn't very confident, fierce, or intimidating to anyone, unless she lost her temper, which was common in many Uzumaki. Nonetheless, she would do her best to serve him as her teammate, however she probably wouldn't be making any sort of connections to him personally.

Next, was that girl that Hana hadn't had the pleasures of meeting yet, however she didn't seem to mind. However, Hana did begin to question the girl upon hearing she was a jinchuriki, and the jinchuriki of a very destructive bijuu at that. What would it be like to have a beast sealed inside your own body?That would reauire a seal of great power to keep inside considering the raw chakra they were created from. Then again, Hana would look to Sayuri for a moment, considering she had sewn the woman pull her kunai from a seal, wondering if maybw she could teach her anything about the clan's personal jutsu. This girl, although a bit scary, made Hana more interested in her making her overall, liked by the small Uzumaki.

Within just momwnts after making the last of her commentaries towards her team, Sayuri would order everyone to follow her to their next destination. However upon arrival, Hana would lift her hand to her face, pinching the bridge of her nose in utter embarrassment and disappointment. What was this? Why was there only one chair? What did this have to do with their test? Wait.. "B-Back to the academy?!" Hana would yell in disbelief at the red headed woman. The small gitl would pace around as she was now in a sort of panick. Her whole career could end in this moment and it hadn't even started yet. She would definitely be picked on by the other kids if they knew that she had failed her genin test. She couldn't lose here. She couldn't face a jounin though. What was she supposed to do? Sayuri sure didn't seem to care much about the test, however she also was full of surprises. Hana would squat on the ground as she tried to form coherent thoughts, but they all seemed to crush together and cram inside her brain.

Shrugging as Kuroi shook her head passing the turn to speak back to him he went into his little spiel, it wasn't until he had pretty much ended his introduction that he had realized he had forgot to mention what his goals were, not that he really had any. That kind of long term thinking wasn't really his style, at least with his every day life. Planning, leading his opponent into making the moves he wants to exploit the openings, now that was something he could do, it had been drilled into him by the one person who saw his talent and determination, the same person who taught him how to use Goken. All throughout the introductions of the Genin, Sayuri would respond with a rather bubbly response, well at least until she got to threatening Kuroi about keeping Red under control, a serious tone slipping through as she did revealing that her rank was earned not given out of pity, The shift in tone was enough to send shivers down the normally unflappable Zakul's spine.

But as if someone flipped a switch in Sayuri's head she had returned back to what could only be described as a red-headed clown. Following Sayuri, Zakul walked beside Kuroi, the only person who seemed even remotely sane to him in this little party, which is saying a lot, what with her having a genocidal beast living inside of her who would love to do nothing more than turn this entire continent into a molten pile of slag, well at least that is what was implied during her little introduction. Arriving deeper in the training grounds they came across a lounging chair, like one would find by a pool with a table loaded up with a feast beside it.

The red-haired jounin, turned to face the group revealing a trio of bells that hung from her waist as she explained that their only goal was to gather them from her, though should they fail they will be back to the academy like a bunch of kids. The other red-heads reaction was well one that could only be described as panic, that was not good especially if she reacts the same way in real combat. Squatting down as her brain seemed to have a meltdown. Coming up behind her Zakul would speak in a calm gentle voice, much like one you would use with a frightened animal, "It will be okay, We can do this, it isn't like you are in this alone. Okay?"

As he emphasized the word We, he gestured to Kuroi as well letting Hana know that she had allies, they may not be friends, not yet, but they were at least on her side. Standing up he would ready himself "Lets turn up the heat a bit, shall we Kuroi-san"

That comment was the only warning he was going to give before charging Sayuri, leaping into the air, using the great strength in his legs he seemed to be almost flying parralel to the ground, soaring over Sayuri's chair, where he would attempt to through a straight punch while flying over her, the strike itself was aimed to hit the mid-section. Unknowingly to him though, extra chakra flowed through his body to the right arm, the same one he was punching with, empowering it's already phenomenal strength... Well phenomenal for one his age that is. Of course while this attack would leave the young genin quite open, he was aiming to be more of a distraction, while Kuroi worked her magic, now he could only hope that she understood his meaning.

Chakra: 45/50

Techniques Used:

Sayuri couldn't help but feel a little bad, making the younger Uzumaki worry like that.. though she doubted anyone would be going back to the Academy today, they really needed to work on the little redhead's confidence. It was good to see that the others seemed to try and calm her down either way, marks in their favour, even if Zakul would go ahead and fall for the obvious trap that lay ahead of him. The jounin wouldn't even move to defend herself, more concerned with the drink she seemed to be pouring herself. While the misguided taijutsu specialist would feel his punch collide with a barrier that would send a shock through his body, throwing back the way he came.

Kuroi's attempt seemed a little better at least, in that she didn't receive a nasty shock as the flaming shuriken would harmlessly bounce of the barrier their sensei had created. It looked to be invisible until touched, where a wave of blue energy would course over the dome shaped safe area Sayuri had secluded herself in. If they were paying attention this energy would span off in three directions, out into the forest. Revealing sealing marks  that would fade after a moment.

"So the straight forward approach failed, what are ya gonna do now?" She taunted, taking a sip of her drink in the safety of her barrier. If the trio knew anything about her, they'd come to realize that they weren't going to be breaking this thing down by force. After all, they were looking at one of the villages foremost fuinjutsu specialists. They would also know that she wasn't going to give them an impossible task to complete. The bright blue eyes looked at the three expectantly as she set her glass aside, leaning on back into her chair.

Hana would continue to freak out as she held her head while she squatted onto the ground. She felt alone, she felt scared, she felt as though she had already lost everything, but worst of all she didn't want to go back to the academy. Hana wanted to grow into the best Kunoichi and have all of the friends like Sayuri said. She wanted to be liked. She wanted to go on adventures, missions, and fight alongside people she trusted. She wanted to stay with this group, even if they were all a bit weird to eachother. She wanted to be known as a hero, not some loser. Hana didn't want to give up, but why was she so useless? The small girl would almost seem to begin crying, until Zakul had knelt down beside her.

He seemed to keeo his distance probably having noticed that Hana seemed a bit nervous of his presence. For this, she seemed to like him all the bit more making her feel a bit more comfortable near him. He would seem to encourage her and make her feel as though she was important to the team, even if she couldnt do much and had only been scared since her arrival. Hana would smile lightly at the boy as he spoke of them as a team, not excluding her like the other kids had done for so long. Then, Kuroi would place a hand upin her shoulder prompting blue eyes to stare upon the silent girl near her. This would cause Hana to smile widely as she slowly stood into an upright position only just in time to watch Zakul spring into action. Hana woukd gasp softly as she spoke in the same tone, "Y-you pribably shouldn't.." The sight was a bit painful for the Uzumaki to watch; however, she was taught to never turn her back on her enemies. Kuroi had stepped in front of Hana to keeo her safe; nonetheless, her attempts to hit the jounin failed too. Blue eyes seemed to dull, but they would brighten as a shield seemed to send flares of chakra down a strand through the forest.

Hana wasn't quite sure if what she had seen was truly the jutsu Sayuri was using or if it was simply her own eyes looking for a way out. With a light tap on Kuroi's shoulder, Hana would begin to whisper, "Did you see that? I think I just saw strands of chakra leading into the woods. If I am correct, maybe they lead to her barrier's source. I think we'll need to split up though, but we'll need to hit her again to see where they go." Her small face would focus on the older Uzumaki to keep track of where she moved.

Zakul's punch was intercepted by an invisible bubble that surrounded the young Jounin, the force of his punch striking the barrier rebounded through his body sending him flying backwards, over the incoming flame wrapped shuriken. Though the gray-haired young genin noticed that as his fist impacted the bubble there was a wave of blue that spread out in a dome, kicking his feet upwards while he was still mid-air he righted himself so that he landed with a skidding stop right next to Kuroi, his right arm was hanging numb from the shockwave, his fingers twitching slightly. A smirk spread across his face, here he was hoping that his plan would have worked and they could call it an early day, but he should have known better. "Well that smarts, on the upside, we seem to work well together Kuroi-san, oh and good eyes Hana-san. I caught the flash when I struck the bubble but not the chakra strands."

Bending down Zakul picked up a stone, roughly the size of a walnut with his left hand bouncing it a couple of times testing its weight he threw it with all the strength he could muster with his left arm, as it impacted Sayuri-sensei's bubble there was another flash of blue and three feint blue lines flared off into the woods. Tsk'ing the gray-haired genin spoke again, "So we know it is a barrier, we also know that at the end of those strands there is a chance that there is some kind of key at the end of those strands. Well splitting them up and following them to their source seems like a better plan than me trying to punch her again. Lets give it a shot... Though I wonder if there is something we could do to keep the bubble flashing while we follow the strands, cause I don't know about you but I suck at sensing that kind of stuff."

Zakul would wait for further input from his teammates, and maybe some kind of trickery from one of the lovely ladies to keep the barrier constantly flashing, or one of them starting to take off before following the strand that shot off towards Sayuri-sensei's rear towards it's source, being rather wary of any traps she might have set up for 'funsies'